October 26, 2010

As we have discussed on this blog, Israel's 2009 discovery of an historically large natural gas field -called Tamar- off its Haifa coast could position Israel to be energy independent in the near future. Natural gas production sales from the Tamar project is expected to begin in 2012.

In addition to the 8.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas discovered in the Tamar project, drilling has begun at Israel's Leviathan project. Believed to contain a massive 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and possibly nearly 40 million barrels of oil, the Leviathan project is located in the Western Negev near Gaza.

Delek Group CEO, Asaf Bartfeld, said "We may be able to supply the European market and the Far East, where demand is highest. Though, of course, at this point, we are waiting to drill and to try and confirm the gas." Delek Group owns 23% of the Tamar and Leviathan projects.

It will be interesting to see the geo-political implications of Israel's soon-to-be energy independence. Too, it will be exciting to see the Jewish state prosper from being energy independent.